Against the slow Christianization of Orthodox Judaism

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Traditional Judaism has always been very keen on preventing complete integration into non-Jewish cultures. The Torah already tells us that Jews are a People that will dwell in solitude, not reckoned among the Nations. (Numbers 23:9). When Jews start being identical to their Gentile neighbors, their role and reason to exist as Jews is ending. Yet, despite massive effort by the Sages and Rabbis, this fight against assimilation has not been completely successful. We need to look at where we possibly went astray and begin to return to what is our own Jewish way.

Before doing that, one more idea needs to be considered. Judaism is enormously rich with many complementing, parallel and contradicting parts. So has Judaism a Jewish part (keeping Shabbat) and a Humanistic part (loving our fellow). We even learn that being refined goes before the Jewish way. So being decent and civil is part of Judaism and cannot be labeled a result of assimilation. But, being uncivilized may come from a fear of losing our Jewish Identity. So that’s the first scar of our clash with the Peoples of the world is: being scared to be too friendly.

Further, some places where we assimilated are easy to spot, namely: there where we have indistinguishable points of view from fundamentalist Christians and Muslims in our debates with Atheists. Let’s look at a few examples:

Against vaccination of children. Judaism teaches not solely to rely on miracles; we first should do all we can and pray all we can. As last resort we may hope for a miracle. We’re obligated to seek the best medical help.

Against abortion. The rabbis have different norms than Christian Fundamentalists. That gets obscured when they speak out as one body against women deciding for themselves.

Against homosexuality. Judaism sees sexuality different from Islam and Christianity. Them giving a joined declaration hides that Jews see sex as healthy, holy, unifying the partners and a right of wives.

Against the Evolution Theory. Giants as Rabbis Hirsch and Kook have already said that if the Theory will hold scientifically, Judaism has no problem believing that G-d used it (just like gravity and sun rays) to create our world. Rabbis should not sound like Christian Creationists.

Against pornography. Judaism has a totally different philosophy about sexuality than any other worldview, which should not be hidden. A Jewish view about the graveness of sins regarding porno should not echo an un-Jewish sound of sex being dirty.

Christianity is a wonderful religion but … not for Jews.

About the Author

The author is a fetal survivor of the pharmaceutical industry (DES - Diethylstilbestrol), born in 1953 to two Dutch Holocaust survivors who met in the largest concentration camp in the Netherlands, Westerbork, and holds a BA in medicine (University of Amsterdam). He taught Re-evaluation Co-counseling, became a social activist, became religious, made Aliyah, and raised three wonderful kids. He wrote an unpublished tome about Jewish Free Will. He's a vegan for 8 years now. *
His most influential teachers (chronologically) are: his parents, Nico (natan) van Zuiden and Betty (beisye) Nieweg, Wim Kan, Mozart, Harvey Jackins, Marshal Rosenberg, Reb Shlomo Carlebach and lehavdiel bein chayim lechayim: Rabbi Dr. Natan Lopes Cardozo and Rav Zev Leff. *
Previously, for decades, he was known to the Jerusalem Post readers as a frequent letter writer. For a couple of years he wrote hasbara for the Dutch public. His fields of attention now are varied: Psychology (including Sexuality and Abuse), Medicine (including physical immortality), Science, Politics (Israel, the US and the Netherlands, Activism - more than leftwing or rightwing, he hopes to highlight Truth), Oppression and Liberation (intersectionally, for young people, the elderly, non-Whites, women, workers, Jews, GLBTQAI, foreigners and anyone else who's dehumanized or exploited), Integrity, Philosophy, Jews (Judaism, Zionism, Holocaust and Jewish Liberation), Ecology and Veganism. Many people can't understand or like him because he has such a wide vision that he never fits any specialist's box. But that exactly what others love about him. Many of his posts relate to affairs from the news or the Torah Portion of the Week or are new insights that suddenly befell him. *
He hopes that his words will inspire and inform, reassure the doubters but make the self-assured doubt more. He strives to bring a fresh perspective rather than bore you with the obvious. He doesn't expect his readers to agree. Rather, original minds must be disputed. In short, his main political positions are: anti-Trumpism, for Zionism, Intersectionality, non-violence, democracy, anti the fake peace process, for original-Orthodoxy, Science, Free Will, anti blaming-the-victim and for down-to-earth optimism. Read his blog how he attempts to bridge any discrepancies. He admits sometimes exaggerating to make a point, which could have him come across as nasty, while in actuality, he's quit a lovely person to interact with. He holds - how Dutch - that a strong opinion doesn't imply intolerance of other views. *
His writing has been made possible by an allowance for second generation Holocaust survivors from the Netherlands. It has been his dream since he was 38 to try to make a difference by teaching through writing. He had three times 9-out-of-10 for Dutch at his high school finals but is spending his days communicating in English and Hebrew - how ironic. G-d must have a fine sense of humor. In case you wonder - yes, he is a bit dyslectic. November 13, 2018, he published his 500st blog post with the ToI. *
He likes doing age-appropriate and age-inappropriate things and looks forward to getting to know his timeless mature out-of-the-box soul mate. *
To send any personal reaction to him, scroll to the top of the blog post and click Contact Me.